Syria's FM claims government abiding by truce

This image made from amateur video released by the Shaam News Network and accessed Tuesday, April 17, 2012, purports to show smoke rising from buildings in Homs, Syria. The Syrian regime widened shelling attacks on opposition strongholds Tuesday, activists said, targeting a second town in a new sign that a U.N.-brokered cease-fire is quickly unraveling despite the presence of foreign observers. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) TV OUT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL
— AP

This image made from amateur video released by the Shaam News Network and accessed Tuesday, April 17, 2012, purports to show smoke rising from buildings in Homs, Syria. The Syrian regime widened shelling attacks on opposition strongholds Tuesday, activists said, targeting a second town in a new sign that a U.N.-brokered cease-fire is quickly unraveling despite the presence of foreign observers. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video) TV OUT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL
/ AP

Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad al-Khalifa,Right, Speaks Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mourad Medelci during the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Arab League to discuss the situation in Syria taking place in Doha, Tuesday 17, April 2012. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal)— AP

Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad al-Khalifa,Right, Speaks Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mourad Medelci during the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Arab League to discuss the situation in Syria taking place in Doha, Tuesday 17, April 2012. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal)
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Members of the Syrian opposition delegation, with from left, Abdul-Aziz al-Kheir, a spokesman for the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria; Hassan Abdul-Azim, head of the opposition National Coordination Body; and Haytham Manna, spokesperson of the Arab Commission for Human Rights, as they attend a news conference in Moscow on Tuesday, April 17, 2012. Members of the Syrian opposition delegation say they hope that Russia will apply its power to persuade Syrian President Bashar Assad to observe Kofi Annan's cease-fire plan. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)— AP

Members of the Syrian opposition delegation, with from left, Abdul-Aziz al-Kheir, a spokesman for the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria; Hassan Abdul-Azim, head of the opposition National Coordination Body; and Haytham Manna, spokesperson of the Arab Commission for Human Rights, as they attend a news conference in Moscow on Tuesday, April 17, 2012. Members of the Syrian opposition delegation say they hope that Russia will apply its power to persuade Syrian President Bashar Assad to observe Kofi Annan's cease-fire plan. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
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Druze man rides a horse while holding a knife and a photograph of Syrian President Bashar Assad during Syria's Independence Day in the village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, near the border with Syria and Israel, Tuesday, April 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)— AP

Druze man rides a horse while holding a knife and a photograph of Syrian President Bashar Assad during Syria's Independence Day in the village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, near the border with Syria and Israel, Tuesday, April 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
/ AP

BEIRUT 
Syrian forces fired a barrage of mortar shells at an opposition stronghold Wednesday even as the foreign minister promised the regime would respect a week-old cease-fire and withdraw troops from urban centers in line with an international peace plan.

A troop pullback is a key provision of special envoy Kofi Annan's six-point plan to end 13 months of bloodshed in Syria, but the regime has ignored last week's deadline of getting tanks and troops off the streets.

Instead, Syrian soldiers continued to pound rebellious areas with artillery after an initial lull at the start the truce a week ago Thursday, raising growing international concerns that Annan's plan will fail.

In the latest violence Wednesday, activists said regime forces fired mortar shells at the central city of Homs, killing at least two civilians and sending thick gray smoke into the air as loud booms rang across residential areas.

The state news agency also said two separate roadside bombs killed 10 members of the security forces and a civilian in northern Syria. SANA reported that six soldiers were killed and 11 wounded in a blast in the village of Mastouma in Idlib province, while a second explosion in the Aleppo region killed four members of the security forces and a civilian.

The attacks were a sign that both sides have violated the cease-fire and could prompt the regime to intensify its assault on rebellious areas. Syria's government has portrayed the uprising as a foreign-led conspiracy by terrorists and thugs.

Despite persistent violence, the international community is reluctant to declare the cease-fire dead, in part because it is seen as the only way to end bloodshed triggered by an uprising against President Bashar Assad. As part of Annan's road map, a halt to fighting is to be followed by political talks between Assad and Syria's opposition.

Other options, such as foreign military intervention, arming Assad's opponents and economic sanctions, have either been discarded or offer no quick solution. A deadlocked international community would be hard put to offer an alternative if it were to acknowledge the collapse of the cease-fire.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem insisted Wednesday that Syria is keeping its commitments. Syria will "continue to cooperate" with Annan's efforts, the Chinese Foreign Ministry quoted Moallem as saying after he met with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing.

Syria will "honor and implement Annan's six-point proposal, fulfill its cease-fire, troop withdrawal and other relevant commitments and begin cooperation with the U.N. monitoring team," Moallem said according to the statement.

China, Russia and Iran have been Syria's staunchest allies. U.N. Security Council members Russia and China have twice shielded the Assad regime from international condemnation, but also demanded that Syria comply with the Annan plan.

After Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Moallem last week that Syria could do better, his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, urged his Syrian visitor Wednesday to make the Annan plan work.

Yang said he hoped Syria would "actively cooperate in putting in place the cease-fire monitoring mechanism, and sincerely embark on a process of inclusive political dialogue and reform to bring about a just, peaceful, and appropriate resolution to the Syrian question."